The howling of the dead

I have since vowed never to write anything about politics or anything pertaining to the sad plight of the country...

Its not just stressful but utterly depressing and taxing to the soul.

But I have to write it. Yes I have to write what I think if only to keep my sanity.

You know it is a thinking minds' sickness to write and be critical of everything even for the downfall of oneself.

It is a malady for thinkers to give reviews and analyze specific situations and be humbled by his views as well as others.

But most of all a thinkers mind can never be silenced.

I'd die first before having not be able to think for myself and for everything around me.

I'd have to die first before being silenced.

Such is the disease of a thinkers mind.

So now I write.

First I write about our soldiers.

I remember when I was young I was asked by my grand-aunt why don't I become a soldier.

I answered: "Because I don't want to kill people, it is against the bible"

my grand-aunt just smiled and nodded.

Looking back at that episode I can't help but think of what I could've answered if I was asked the same question again.

I have answered time and again that I will never join the military and for a number of reasons.

So again I ask myself "Why not join the military?"

First of all I don't see the need for joining the military because we are not in a state of war.

Second the military still haven't vindicated themselves from their past crimes specially in the martial law era.

Third the military are not capable of critical thinking either they work for the government or they work for a powerful person.

Fourth their definition of what is right stems from what they hold and that being in the end of a barrel of a gun.

Fifth they have yet to prove that they are capable of maintaining peace in our country.

All of the above are from my observations of the situation of the country, everything else are either prejudice or biased towards the civilian.

So I have yet to react accordingly to what Conrado De Quiros' column on his observation on the huge sign nailed to a wall in Fort Bonifacio in the wake of the 13 soldiers killed in Basilan.

“It’s the soldier -- not the reporter -- who has given us the freedom of the press.

It’s the soldier -- not the poet -- who has given us the freedom of speech.

It’s the soldier -- not the politician -- who ensures that we live freely and peacefully.

It’s the soldier who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is eventually draped by the flag.”

While De Quiros' article stirs even kinder to what I am about to write I have to give my apologies first to the bereaved and the killed soldiers. Certainly you do not deserve those deaths as is everybody in that war you undertook. Pardon my observations and criticism for I believe that by writing this I may give more justice to your deaths.

Lets' start with the first tribute:

“It’s the soldier -- not the reporter -- who has given us the freedom of the press."

False... Outright false I have never seen or read a single soldier in my lifetime writing anything of the ordinary who has upheld the freedom of the press. They if anything else work only for the good of their company and agenda. Freedom of the press is bestowed by the constitution the soldiers' job is to uphold the constitution nevertheless they of all people are what seems to break it by supporting a false president at that and following a bloodthirsty trail of killings against reporters and freedom fighters.

So allow me to rewrite that statement:

“It’s the soldier -- not the reporter -- who has killed the freedom of the press."

Second tribute:

"It’s the soldier -- not the poet -- who has given us the freedom of speech."

Such a powerful statement... freedom of speech is a universal freedom, who gave them the right to protect it from ourselves or from anybody? Freedom of speech is synonymous to freedom of thinking. It is against human nature to prevent people from thinking their minds out or else give the military the right to safeguard it. For all I know it is them who have prevented this time and again. And the poet is the one who is always at the rescue of the soldier not the other way around. Poets define the world and its reality in the context of its freedom to express words according to how free his/her mind thinks and a poem is a manifestation of that genius not the soldier. Poets are the one who writes their hymns, their war songs, their inspirations and their propagandas. Poets are those soldiers who know how to love their motherland and spun tearful speeches for their aggrrieved loved ones. Poets are the soldiers of the written and un-written word.

So allow me to rewrite that statement:

"It’s the poet -- who's the soldier of the word -- who has given us the freedom of speech."

third tribute:

"It’s the soldier -- not the politician -- who ensures that we live freely and peacefully."

I don't know how soldiers define what a politician is, but all I know is that they have worked under them even if sometimes for the wrong reasons. So permit me to define what a politician is. A politician is voted by the people and with the will of the people passes laws and soldiers are bound to uphold them.
The people choose whom to be made as their leader and a politician is born from the people, it is therefore out of the question that the soldier work hand in hand to protect the people and the law passed by the politician. The work of a politician ergo is different from the work of the soldier for soldiers can never just ensure that we live "freely and peacefully" they can always do the opposite even without the help of the politician or the people. Remember martial law?

So allow me to rewrite that statement:

"It’s the soldier -- not the politician -- who ensures that we live freely and peacefully and sometimes the opposite."

Fourth and last tribute:

"It’s the soldier who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is eventually draped by the flag.”

I would like to give some points to consider before closing my arguments. The flag has been for many reasons used for different and countless occassions. And if by saluting to the flag one becomes emblazened to serve and protect ones' country then so be it but relegating that truth to just a few people handling guns and dying by it is just so disturbing. The flag for one is a symbol of the Filipino people. The flag is the symbol of what holds right, just and true to the country it represent. From it stems the rich history and culture of its race. Saluting to it means respecting its authority and living by it.But as for me I have never seen a flag being used arbitrarily and brazenly to jutify on stepping on the rights and freedoms of its constituents except to them who truthfully and deserves to be draped by that flag.


So again allow me to rewrite that statement:

"It’s the soldier who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is eventually draped by the flag because he/she justly deserves so.”

Now don't get me wrong soldiers are there to protect us and fight for us, such is their profession. But using that profession to bring this country backward is a clear insult for the people who died in their ranks and are continually dying to move this country forward. It is my sole prayer that this military see the outsome of their actions.

I am not against fighting for their comrades who were beheaded I was even one of the angrier one's to rant about it but to use a dead soldier in battle to justify the existence of a corrupt military is just abominable. They are not just doing disservice to the people they serve but also to the people who died fighting for them. I have great respect for our soldiers but I have not a dime happy about the state of our military and our government much less something as arrogant as attacking Mindanao who'm is about to celebrate its beloved Ramadan.

But as I always say and believe; "Not all soldiers are corrupt, and not all Muslims are Abu Sayyafs."

Let Us Stop the Killings... Before It's too late...

Let them celebrate their Ramadan...